A workplace strategist helps companies create the best physical and digital environments for their employees to work in. They analyze how a company's staff works and what tools they use, then suggest changes to office space, technology, and policies to improve productivity and satisfaction. In other words, they help create a workplace that makes it easier and more enjoyable for people to do their jobs.

A workplace strategist is a professional who focuses on aligning an organization's work patterns with its work environment, including workplace technology, to support its business goals, enhance performance, and improve employee engagement and satisfaction. They study how a company's staff operates and how the physical workplace and technology can support their productivity and well-being, while also looking at ways to implement the organization's culture and values through the physical and digital space.

The role of a workplace strategist involves a blend of research, design, branding, technology, business acumen, and change management. They must consider various factors, including space utilization, real estate efficiency, environmental sustainability, and the impact of workplace design on employee health and happiness. A workplace strategist often works closely with HR, IT, and facilities management teams to create a seamless experience for the workforce that can adapt to future changes in work habits and technologies.

Key responsibilities of a workplace strategist typically include:

• Conducting workplace utilization studies and engagement surveys to understand current usage and employee needs.

• Developing flexible workplace models that accommodate different working styles and preferences, often considering remote or hybrid work trends.

• Advising on office layouts, furnishings, and amenities that reflect the company's brand and culture.

• Integrating technology solutions that facilitate collaboration and communication among distributed teams.

• Designing and implementing change management initiatives that help employees transition to new ways of working.

• Ensuring that workplace strategies are scalable and can evolve with organizational changes.

• Measuring and analyzing the impact of workplace changes on employee satisfaction and organizational productivity.

In essence, a workplace strategist helps organizations to create a strategic plan for their physical space that is not just a place to work, but a dynamic tool that contributes to the overall success of the business.

Hybrid work describes a work model where employees are expected to attend the office at least one day per week while being permitted to work from a location other than the office some of the time. Hybrid work models vary; for example, offering employees the individual choice or orchestration or scheduling of days in the office for an entire organization or team. Hybrid work can sometimes refer to space, as in “hybrid workplace,” which describes an office that is able to support interactions that successfully include in-person and remote employees.

Remote work (also called telecommuting, telework, work from home, hybrid work, and other terms) is the practice of working from one's home or another space rather than from an office.

Activity-based working is an organizational strategic framework that recognizes that people perform different activities in their day-to-day work, and therefore need a variety of work settings supported by the right technology and culture to carry out these activities effectively. Based on activity, individuals, teams, and the organization are empowered to achieve their full potential by developing a culture of connection, inspiration, accountability, and trust. On a personal level, Activity Based Working also enables each person to organize their work activities a way that best suits what they need to do, and who they need to do it with, promoting productivity and engagement at work. Although not normally implemented as a cost-saving business strategy, it can produce efficiencies and cost savings through more effective collaboration and team work. Inspiring spaces that evolve from an activity-based approach are designed to create opportunities for a variety of workplace activities, ranging from intense focus work to collaborative settings, as well as areas for impromptu or more formal meetings.

Sharing a desk is a flexible desk arrangement in which employees aren’t assigned a single desk — rather, they share desks with their co-workers. This system, which gives employees flexibility and the freedom to move around the office with ease, is a key part of hybrid work models.

Hot desking (sometimes called "non-reservation-based hoteling") is an office organization system that involves multiple workers using the same physical workstation or work space during different time periods. The "desk" in the name refers to a table or other work space being shared by multiple workers on different shifts as opposed to every staff member having their own personal desk.

Hoteling is a method of providing office space to staff – typically for staff who spend most of their time working away from the office on an as needed rather than on an assigned basis, using a reservation system. It can apply to whole offices, or designated portions of them.

Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, and in some cases refreshments and parcel acceptance services.

Space utilization is how a company or organization utilizes space in its office. While occupancy measures how many people are in a certain space at a given time, utilization measures exactly how that space is used. Utilization isn’t about the number of people in a space but instead focuses on how efficiently an area is used. A space utilization study can measure how an entire office is used or focus on specific rooms or regions within the office, such as meeting rooms, conference rooms, classrooms, and other collaborative workspaces.

This is an evaluation that is taken after project completion when people have moved into their new work space to assess their level of satisfaction with the various aspects of the new work environment, as well as to check on the performance against the Pre-Occupancy Evaluation results.

Change management (sometimes abbreviated as CM) is a collective term for all approaches to prepare, support, and help individuals, teams, and organizations in making organizational change. It includes methods that redirect or redefine the use of resources, business process, budget allocations, or other modes of operation that significantly change a company or organization.

Generative artificial intelligence (also GenAI) is artificial intelligence capable of generating text, images, or other media, using generative models. Generative AI models learn the patterns and structure of their input training data and then generate new data that has similar characteristics.